Malaysian Science & Technology Indicators 2008 Report Malaysian Science & Technology Indicators 2008 Report 7.1 INTRODUCTION
Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind including inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. It is divided into two categories which are industrial property and copyright. Industrial property includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs and geographic indications. Copyright includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programmes.
This chapter analyzes Intellectual Property scenario in Malaysia and a few other selected countries. More focus is given on patenting trend in Malaysia which includes the patenting process that is being practiced by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO). There are also details on patent applications filed and granted by MyIPO as well as patents granted based on field of technology.
This chapter also provides concise views on trademark, and industrial design trends in Malaysia. Finally, it also includes international comparison sourced from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Excluded in this chapter is copyrights due the mixed of information with works that are not related with science and technology.
7.2 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN MALAYSIA 7.2.1 Patenting
According to MyIPO, a patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem.
7.2.2 Trademark
A Trade Marks is a mark which distinguishes the goods and services of one trader from those of another.
A mark includes words, logos, pictures, names, letters, numbers or a combination of these. Trade Marks is used as a marketing tool to enable customers in recognizing the product of a particular trader.
(Source: MyIPO) 7.2.3 Industrial Design
An industrial design is the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article. The design may consist of three- dimensional features such as the shape and configuration of an article, or two-dimensional features, such as pattern and ornamentation. The design features must be applied to an article by any industrial process or means of which the features in the finished article appeal to eye. (Source: MyIPO)
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Malaysian Science & Technology Indicators 2008 Report Malaysian Science & Technology Indicators 2008 Report 1983), the inventor should first apply a patent by filing in a form (Form 1 – Request for grant of patent,
with a fee of RM200 or Form 14 – Application for grant of certificate for utility innovation, with a fee of RM100). Once MyIPO receives the application, it will be accorded the date of filing in accordance to Section 28 of the Patents Act. Preliminary examination will be conducted to ensure the application meets the formality requirements of the Patent Act. Adverse Preliminary Examination Report will be sent to the applicant is given 3 months to make correction.
The application is lay open for public inspection after 18 months from the priority date or filing date.
Within 2 years from the date of filing, the applicant has to request for full substantive examination.
This request can be submitted using Form 5 – Request for substantive examination, fee RM700 or Form F5A – Request for modified substantive examination, fee RM450. If Form 5 / Form 5A is not submitted within the prescribed time, the application is deemed withdrawn. No further action will be taken on the application.
The application that has successfully undergone for search and substantive examination will be granted or issued with a certificate of grant. Otherwise, the non-compliant application will be issued with Adverse Substantive Examination Report and is given 3 months to respond to the report.
Any third party or an aggrieved person can apply to the High Court (Intellectual Property) to invalidate the patent that has been granted by MyIPO due to the reasons as mentioned in the Patents Act 1983.
7.3.2 Patent Applications Filed and Granted in Malaysia from 1996 – 2008 7.3.2.1 Patent Applications Filed in Malaysia, 1996 – 2008
Table 7.1: Patent Applications Filed in Malaysia for Period 1996 – 2000, 2001 – 2005 and 2006 – 2008
Nationality 1996- 2000
2001- 2005
2006 - 2008
Variation (Percentage
increase or decrease during the
two period under review)
Variation (Percentage
increase or decrease during the
two period under review)
Malaysian 1,017 2,013 2,065 97.9 2.6
Non-Malaysian 29,047 25,648 10,510 -11.7 -59.0
Total Applications 30,064 27,661 12,575 -8.0 -54.5
Source: Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO)
Table 7.1 above shows patent applications filed in Malaysia by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO). The applications are divided into Malaysian and Non-Malaysian applicants. The numbers of applications were 30,064, 27,661 and 12,575 for the year 1996-2000, 2001-2005 and 2006-2008 respectively.
The numbers of applications are found dropped by 8% from the period of 1996-2000 to 2001- 2005. Applications from Non-Malaysian are also found much higher than those of Malaysians. From the period of 2006 to 2008 there were 12,575 applications of which 16% were applications by
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Malaysian and the remaining 84% were applications by foreign innovators or organizations. The huge difference was most likely due to the contribution of various multinational companies as a result of government policy that encourages foreign direct investment in Malaysia.
There was a large increase of Malaysian applications (97.9%) from 1996-2000 to 2001-2005 (from 1,017 to 2,013 total applicants respectively). There was a marginal increase in the Malaysian applicants in the year 2006-2008.
As for applications filed by Non-Malaysian, there was a decrease of 12% in 2001-2005 from applications registered in 1996-2001. However applications for non-Malaysian in 2006- 2008 stood at only 10,510.
7.3.2.2 Patents Granted in Malaysia, 1996 – 2008
Table 7.2: Patent Granted by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MYIPO) for Period 1996 – 2000, 2001 – 2005 and 2006 – 2008
Nationality 1996- 2000
2001- 2005
2006 - 2008
Variation (Percentage
increase or decrease during
the two period under review)
Variation (Percentage
increase or decrease during
the two period under review)
Malaysian 215 142 723 -34.0 409.2
Non-Malaysian 4,072 9,253 15,251 127.5 64.8
Total
Applications 4,287 9,395 15,974 119.4 70.0
Source: Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO)
As shown in Table 7.2, the total number of patents granted in the period of 2006 until 2008 was 15,974, 70% higher than in 2001-2005. Of the total, 4% were granted to Malaysians, while the remaining 96% were granted to non-Malaysians.
Patents granted for non-Malaysian applicants in 1996-2000 were 4,072, 9,253 in 2001-2005 and 15,251 in 2006-2008. A large increase of 5,181 (127.2%) can be observed for patents granted for the year 1996-2000 to 2001-2005. It is expected that there will be a tremendous increase of patents granted for the year 2006-2010 as there was a total of 15,251 patents granted for Non-Malaysians in 2006-2008. This is most likely due to the more efficient and effective patenting processes by MyIPO to boost up Malaysian innovative efforts.
Despite the decreasing trend in the number of patent applications in Malaysia for the past few years, the number of patents granted has been on the rise during the period. During 2006-2008, the patents granted to Malaysian applicants rose by 409.2% and patent applications granted to non- Malaysians increased by 64.8% over 2001-2005 period.
Malaysian Science & Technology Indicators 2008 Report Malaysian Science & Technology Indicators 2008 Report 7.3.2.3 Patents Granted in Malaysia by Field of Technology, 2005 – 2008
Figure 7.2: Patents Granted Based on Field of Technology Classified According to the International Patent Classification (IPC) System, 2005 to 2008
Section 2005 2006 2007 2008 2008%
A Section A : Human Necessities 333 948 1,179 423 18.9
B Section B : Performing Operations; Transporting 452 1,155 1,213 421 18.8
C Section C : Chemistry; Metallurgy 600 1,275 1,748 451 20.1
D Section D : Textiles; Paper 30 101 109 33 1.5
E Section E : Fixed Constructions 82 197 221 98 4.4
F Section F : Mechanical Engineering, Lighting, Heating, Weapons
164 448 407 159 7.1
G Section G : Physics 316 1,042 883 293 13.1
H Section H : Electricity 531 1,583 1,223 364 16.2
Total Total 2,508 6,749 6,983 2,242 100.00
Source: Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO)
Figure 7.2 shows the number of patents granted in Malaysia by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) according to the field of technology for the year 2005 to 2008. The number of patents granted in 2008 decreased by nearly 70% as compared to the previous year. Chemistry and metallurgy recorded the highest number of patents granted (451 or 20.1%), followed by human necessities (423 or 18.9%), performing transporting operations (421 or 18.8%) and electricity (364 or 16.2%). It was observed that all the fields of technology registered decreases in the number of patents granted.
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7.3.2.4 Patents Application and Patents Granted in Malaysia by Country Applicants
Figure 7.3: Number of Patents Applied and Granted in Malaysia for Selected Countries for Period 2005 – October 2007
Source: Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO)
Figure 7.3 shows the number of patents applied and granted in Malaysia for foreign applicants from 20 selected countries for the period of 2005 to October 2007. According to the statistics, a total of 11,489 patents were filed at MyIPO during the period. Of the total, 3,921 or 34.1% were applied by applicants originated from the United States of America. This was followed by applicants originated from Japan (2,010 or 17.5%), Malaysia (1,531 or 13.3%), Germany (779 or 6.8%) and Switzerland (637 or 5.5%).
On the other hand, the number of patent granted for the period of 2005 to October 2007 was 13,266. Of the total, 4,312 or 32.5% were granted to applicants originated from Japan, followed by the United States of America (3,837 or 28.9%), Germany (1,097 or 7.5%) and the United Kingdom (712 or 4.9%). Applications from Malaysia accounted for 3.3% of total patents granted.
The record indicates that the total number of patents granted for Japan was much greater than the total number of patents applied. The total number of patents application also happened to be much lower for the year 2005 to October 2007. The total number of patents granted for the period of 2005-October 2007 is high as the result of the accumulation of patents applied during the past years.
Malaysian Science & Technology Indicators 2008 Report Malaysian Science & Technology Indicators 2008 Report 7.4 TRADEMARK
Figure 7.4: Number of Trademark Applications from 2000 to 2008
Source: Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO)
Figure 7.4 shows the number of trademark applications for the year 2000 to 2008 by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO). Total number of trademark applications in 2008 increased marginally (0.5%) from the previous year. In 2008, the number of trademark applications for Malaysia was 12,562 and 13,472 for foreign applicants
The number of trademark applications increased almost every reporting year. In 2004, applications by Malaysian and foreigners were reaching almost similar points (10,406 and 10,337 respectively).
Overall observation in the statistics indicates a slight different between Malaysian and foreign applicants each year, with foreign applicants leading the figures.
Figure 7.5: Number of Trademark Registrations from 2000 to 2008
Source: Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO)
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Figure 7.5 shows number of trademark registrations from 2000 to 2008 by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO). In 2000, the number of trademark registrations was 449 for Malaysian and 1,328 for foreign applicants. In 2001, the number of registration increased to 1,570 for Malaysia with a large increase can also be observed in 2002. The increasing patterns continue for registration by the foreigners until 2008.
From the figure, it can be observed that trademark registrations seem to reduce slightly for Malaysians from year 2002 until year 2005. The figure began to increase tremendously in 2005 onwards. However, the increase in the number of trademarks for Malaysians is much less compared to those of the foreigners. The year 2007 has been the turning point of such increase. Foreign trademarks leads more than double in total compared to those of Malaysians.
7.5 INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
Figure 7.6: Number of Industrial Design Applications from 1999 to 2008
Source: Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO)
Figure 7.6 shows number of industrial design applications from 1999 to 2008 by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO). The figure also compares the difference in the number of applications by Malaysians and foreigners. In 1999, the number of industrial design applications by Malaysians was 111 and by foreigners 157. While in 2000, the number of applications increased to 286 for Malaysians and 679 for foreigners.
The number of industrial design applications for both Malaysians and foreigners keep on increasing each year from 1999 to 2003, but the number of applications seemed to decrease for Malaysians in 2004 to 520 as compared to 624 in 2003. In 2008, the number of industrial design applications was 630 for Malaysia and 1,072 for foreign applicants.
Malaysian Science & Technology Indicators 2008 Report Malaysian Science & Technology Indicators 2008 Report Figure 7.7: Number of Industrial Design Registrations from 1999 to 2008
Source: Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO)
Figure 7.7 shows number of industrial design registrations from 1999 to 2008 by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) along with comparisons with Malaysian and foreign registrations for each reporting fiscal year. There is no industrial design registered in 1999 as it was only open for application in that particular year. In 2000, the number of industrial design registration was only 73 for Malaysians and 208 for foreigners. While in 2001, the number of registration increased to 199 for Malaysian and 635 for foreigner.
The pattern of industrial design registrations seems to vary year by year. Some increase can be observed for foreign registries and Malaysian registries within different fiscal year. There was a vast increase in industrial design registration for the year 2003 with a total number of 573 registrations for Malaysians and 974 for foreigners. However, the number of industrial design registrations went down for both Malaysians and foreigners in 2005.
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7.6 INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS
Figure 7.8: Patents Granted by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) for Selected Countries from 1977 to 2007
Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Figure 7.8 above shows the distribution of patent granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which compares patent granted from various countries all over the world. While US holds the highest number of patents granted from 1977 to 2007 with 2,004,055, Japan also contributes significantly in the US patern granted. This is followed by UK with a total of 95,917 patents, France (95,584 patents), Taiwan (79,019 patents) and Canada (75,202 patents).
Malaysia has made a good improvement by owning 949 USPTO patents. The number is much higher compared to its ASEAN counterparts such as Thailand (440), the Philippines (332), Indonesia (216) and Vietnam (12).
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